Interview with Kim about Kroger Hero pay.

Segment on UFCW’s calls for more protective measures for workers.

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After 153 positive COVID-19 cases, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 is asking for the Farmer John meatpacking plant in Vernon to close down and maintain employee payroll and benefits while the outbreak is investigated. ow.ly/dGSS50zU2gl

An Albertsons spokesperson tells me they will be extending the $2/hr hazard pay at their chains (Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and others) through June 13. Hazard pay at some other companies is set to end this weekend (Giant, Whole Foods, Amazon) The UFCW represents many but not all workers in Albertsons holdings. This is a case where the union making a stink about hazard pay benefits workers in all the chains, union and non-union alike.

Kim Cordova interview on Kroger Hero Pay and benefits

Interview with anonymous Kroger workers about hero pay.

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Everyone needs nutritious food to stay healthy in this pandemic. I am working to make sure no one goes to bed hungry at night. Thank you @LAFoodBank, @LIUNA Local 300, @UFCW Local 1428, El Proyecto del Barrio, @LALabor and @cityofazusa for organizing today’s food distribution!

Union representing thousands of B.C. grocery workers says decision from Save On Foods to end pandemic premium pay for its employees is “irresponsible” and “unfair.” According to UFCW, the premium ends on Saturday. @BT_Vancouver @CityNewsVAN @NEWS1130

PART ONE of my conversation with Marc Perrone, President of @UFCW, about the importance of protecting workers & consumers from #COVID19.

PART TWO of my conversation with Marc Perrone, President of @UFCW, about the importance of protecting workers & consumers from #COVID19.

Then why are your employees dying? And why would you end “hero pay” instead of just making pay raises permanent? Let us know when a Kroger exec’s bonus is only $400. Because $400 is all FT frontline workers are given- and that barely covers 1/3 of someone’s rent in #Colorado.

His name was James McKay. He worked at the Cap Hill King Soopers in #Denver, where his coworker Randy Narvaez also died from #covid19.It is clear that the execs at @kroger are not taking this seriously.

NATIONAL: Second King Soopers employee from Denver store dies of COVID-19, union says

Seventy King Soopers and Kroger employees—in Colorado—have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a union rep with United Food and Commercial Workers #7.​

A second employee at the King Soopers in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood has died from complications related to the novel coronavirus, union officials said Monday. The store is dealing with 11 reported cases of the new virus. https://bit.ly/2TCMd5e #COVID19Colorado

Weld Co., CO form for meatpacking plant workers – obtained by @maddow: If you’ve been exposed to someone who has fever or respiratory symptoms, you are not eligible to be tested.

America’s grocery workers are risking, and losing, their lives to keep our country fed. We have tragically lost at least 68 grocery store workers like Leilani Jordan. And that’s an undercount. I stand with @UFCW workers seeking job safety measures and ongoing hazard pay.

Another example: “thank you to our workers” ads from Fred Meyer on Spotify—they include a tacky promotion after the ad and are running while @kroger ends hazard pay.

Essential means we pay essential workers what they deserve and give them the full protection they need. Thank you’s won’t pay the bills or be enough for these workers risking their lives for all of US! @UFCW

Story of Tin Aye and Randy , interview with Kim Cordova on importance of worker safety.

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Heartbreaking, especially because so many of these deaths are preventable. Grocery workers are begging their customers to wear masks. Is that too much to ask? To protect ourselves & the people who are keeping us from going hungry?

I stand with @UFCW_7. Every life is essential.

Remembering Tin Aye who died this weekend after contracting #COVID19 — she worked at the JBS Greeley meat plant in Colorado. She was a mother, wife, and newly a grandmother who came to the U.S. in 2007 in search of a better life. She was just 60 years old.

So sad to hear that Tin Aye, a Colorado meatpacking worker, and Randy Narvaez, a King Soopers employee, have both died from coronavirus.

My heart is with their families and @UFCW community during this tragic time. We can’t go on like this. Workers need stronger protections NOW!

The onslaught of @kroger TV/radio ads saying “thank you for the long hours” to its workers has been sickening. Those ads are expensive. They’re not the “thanks” workers need. Great work here by Popular Information in a small but significant step in holding Kroger accountable:

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

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Incredibly sad: The 8th JBS worker to die from coronavirus was Tin Aye. She had just become a grandmother after her daughter gave emergency birth while COVID19 positive, according to

@UFCW_7. Aye went on a ventilator right after her grandchild’s birth. From the union

Aye‘s daughter, San Twin, told CNN that a JBS company doctor told her mother she likely had the flu or common cold and could return to work at the plant. cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/jbs-employee-dies/index.html

Tin Aye wanted a better life for her children, away from the refugee camp in Thailand where they were born. She came to USA in 2007 & worked at the JBS plant in Greeley, CO. Tin Aye died Sunday from #covid19 She never got to meet her new grandson

As @jerharlanCNN points out in this article, Tin Aye is now the EIGHTH employee from the JBS beef plant in Greeley Colorado to die. She had been in the hospital and on a ventilator since March 29th, one day after her first grandson, Felix, was born.

As Kroger cuts “hero pay” because essential workers just aren’t worth the money, as Bezos does the same, as delivery drivers and restaurant workers trudge into work at risk of their own lives and dont even get a decent wage

Kim Cordova: In our meat processing plant, all of the workers but one were Latino and one was Burmese. They were all over 60yo as well. This pandemic has had a detrimental impact on people in those groups. I think that has something to do with the response from these employers.

Kim Cordova: “The most important and critical part of the food supply chain is the workforce. You are seeing people dying in these industries, and it’s because the response by most of these employers was late or inadequate.” #covid19justice

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@kroger CEO Rodney McMullen is paid $12 million per year Sales at his stores are boomingMultiple Kroger workers have died of COVID-19 But, as the pandemic rages, McMullen plans to rescind its $2/hour “hero bonus” for hourly employees in six days

@kroger’s executives are making a bet The bet is that most people won’t notice or care that they are cutting pay for hourly workers by $2 during a pandemic Why are they risking it? Reducing labor costs could earn the execs millions in bonuses

Broadcast:

5/8/2020

5/7/2020

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“Companies have treated them — and our own President is treating them — as disposable objects, and they’re not.” Kim Cordova, president of a union that represents 30,000 meat-plant workers, says that employees need protection and paid sick leave. https://cnn.it/3du4FEG

“Companies have treated them — and our own President is treating them — as disposable objects, and they’re not.” Kim Cordova, president of a union that represents 30,000 meat-plant workers, says that employees need protection and paid sick leave. http://cnn.it/3du4FEG

Meat Packing Mentions:

KHN: At One Meat-Packing Plant In Colorado, Coronavirus Cases Doubled ‘In Number Of Days’

May 1, 2020

The union for workers at the JBS meat-processing plant also announced another employee died. The meat industry has emerged as a virus hot spot across the country, but with President Donald Trump’s executive order for them to stay open, employees are left with the choice between quitting or putting themselves at risk for infection. Meanwhile, Amazon extends its stay-at-home directive for workers who are able to do so — calling into question how the company plans to keep warehouse workers safe.

Broadcast:

3PM

WBUR (Radio) at 5/1/2020 4:25:09 PM

9AM

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“They somehow think we don’t have a constitutional right to advocate for our workers,” said Kim Cordova, President of ⁦ @UFCWlocal7. The Administration is overriding health officials & clamping down on unions to limit food safety & worker protections. April 30, 2020

JBS threatened legal action against the union. Five workers there have died of the virus. “They somehow think we don’t have a constitutional right to advocate for our workers,” said Kim Cordova, president of Local 7 of the United Food & Commercial Workers.

Kim Cordova, president of United Foods and Commerce Workers Local 7, shares the concerns of workers at a meat processing plant in Colorado where 5 employees have already died from COVID-19.

“If these workers are essential, protect them. They are treating workers like fungible widgets instead of human beings.” Local @UFCW president Kim Cordova is justifiably incensed at Trump’s appalling announcement — which he made on #WorkersMemorialDay.

NEW: Union leader at Colorado meat plant where five workers died condemns President Trump’s order to keep plants running. “This is not the Middle Ages,” said Kim Cordova. ”Workers are not serfs—toiling at the whim of the management lords of the manor.” #9News #COVID19colorado

We understand the critical job that they do, but they did not sign up for this, they signed up to process meat.

KGNU Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins

At a press conference, Governor Polis said he was working closely with the union and JBS on their reopening. The union president, Kim Cordova, says otherwise, “We think they’re rushing to open that plant. There is a lack of transparency, there is so much confusion. These workers have been promised testing. that never happened.”

“some workers this week said they don’t feel safe returning, in part because the majority of employees have not been tested for the novel coronavirus”

“They’re just going to reopen and they’re giving my workers a death sentence said Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7″

Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7, responded in a letter accusing the company of “threatening to stifle our voice” of the union and its members.